Lady Baron Volleyball Splits Conference Openers

Sep 24, 2011

BUFFALO, N.Y.—The Franciscan University volleyball team recorded its first conference win as well as its first conference loss during Saturday's AMCC Quad Match at Medaille College. The Lady Barons dropped their first match of the day to Medaille 3-0, as the Lady Mavs swept Franciscan in three games (17-25, 21-25, 28-30). Franciscan rebounded from the morning loss to complete a 3-0 sweep over Hilbert College in the afternoon match (25-15, 28-26, 25-15).

"We had big leads in the first and second game against Medaille, but we didn't have the composure to hold them," said Lady Baron head coach Kelly Herrmann. "Medaille has one really strong hitter, Meghan Fahy, and she played a really good match. We let her have too much control. She hit well, and we had too many mistakes to put any pressure on them."

Herrmann also noted that in the first match of the day, all of her hitters struggled to find consistency except for Anna Cain. Cain led the Lady Barons with nine kills and zero errors, with Meg Kay chipping in nine kills as well. Amy O'Keefe registered 22 assists in the first match, leading the team in the category. Kay also added ten digs to lead the Lady Barons, with Alyssa Wappes and Maria Prezzia each tallying nine.

In the second match of the day versus Hilbert, it was a different story for the Lady Barons.

"We really took control of the first game [against Hilbert]," said Herrmann. "We faltered a little bit in the second game, but we kept our composure and came back and won, and we took control of the third game early."

It was another solid performance for Cain, as she kept a clean slate for the day not committing a single error in the second match either. "Anna was completely dominant [against Hilbert]," noted Herrmann. "We passed better so we got the ball to her better."

Last week, Cain earned player of the week for women's volleyball in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference as she led the Lady Barons to a 3-1 week.

To go along with Cain's 19-kill, zero-error performance in match two, Kay chipped in with ten kills. O'Keefe led the team in assists again with 27, while Wappes had 11 digs to lead the Lady Barons in the category.

Franciscan is now 6-8 overall on the season, and 1-1 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play. The Lady Barons prepare to face Penn State Altoona—and AMCC pre-season Player of the Year Samantha Link—at home Wednesday night beginning at 7 p.m.

"Altoona is a tough, tough team," added Herrmann. "We have to play a whole lot better than we have played in our recent matches [to win.] We definitely have some things to work on, but we'll be ready."